Bangladesh plant fire was sabotage: government panel

Bloomberg

The premises of Tazreen Fashions Ltd garments factory is pictured on Nov. 25 after a fire that killed more than 120 people in Nischintapur, Bangladesh.

Photo: EPA

The fire that killed more than 100 people at a Bangladeshi factory that made clothes for retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc was an act of sabotage, according to the government panel investigating the blaze.

There was no possibility last month’s fire at Tazreen Fashion Ltd’s factory was caused by an electrical short-circuit and witness statements suggest sabotage, panel chief Mainuddin Khandaker said by telephone on Monday, without saying who could have been responsible.

He blamed the factory owner for “gross negligence” as poor safety standards made it harder for workers to escape.

The Nov. 24 fire, the country’s deadliest at a garment plant, renewed pressure on local companies and international retailers sourcing cheap clothes from Bangladesh to improve labor conditions. More than 700 garment workers have died since 2005 in Bangladesh, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group.

The government panel’s investigation believes the incident was the result of sabotage because it did not find any electricity connection or appliance in the area where the fire originated, Khandaker said.

“The fire originated from the warehouse on the ground floor,” he said.

The findings of the report are “conflicting,” Garment Workers Unity Forum union president Mushrefa Mishu said in a phone interview yesterday.

“I don’t think it was sabotage,” Mishu said. “Calling it an act of sabotage, the government is indicating some workers are responsible for the fire, so that they can be harassed.”

The factory had no emergency exits, and many workers were burned alive, as they got trapped in heavy smoke, Muhammad Mahboob, a director at the Fire Service and Civil Defense said after the fire.

Delowar Hossain, managing director of Tazreen Fashion owner Tuba Group, did not answer two calls to his mobile phone yesterday.

Fifty percent of Bangladesh’s garment factories don’t meet required work safety standards and those that have improved working conditions have done so under pressure from Western apparel makers, Kalpona Akter, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, a non-governmental organization, said in an interview last month.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has said it fired a supplier that made apparel at the factory without its authorization.